COMOM to bring free dental care to Greeley

The Island Grove Events Center will become a dentist's office, times 125 on Oct. 4 and 5. About 200 volunteer dentists will see about 1,600 patients.

Colorado Mission of Mercy, or COMOM, will come to Greeley this year to provide free dental care to people who can't afford to pay for it.

COMOM started in 2007, and every year dentists set up in a different Colorado city that needs the help. This is determined by a few factors, said board member Molly Pereira. The number of students on free and reduced lunches and unemployment rates are good indicators of where the most people who could use free dental care might live. As important, though, is a supportive community, she said.

COMOM is 100 percent nonprofit; it has only one paid employee — program director Pamela Dinkfelt. All of the dentists and other volunteers do their work unpaid. Some even spend money, coming from out of the community and paying for transportation and lodging on their own. So it's important that the community's businesses, churches, city and more are willing to help support the effort. Greeley has stepped up, Pereira said.

Joel Feinberg is a dentist who has volunteered at the event for six of the seven years it has existed. He spent years working as a full-time dentist, and is now semi-retired, working part time in Greeley and Loveland. He is the site chairman for this year's event, and said that a major source of support this year has been Island Grove. Dr. Mark Wallace, executive director of the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment, arranged for COMOM to have use of the events center and about 10 pieces of equipment the group needs, free of charge.

Island Grove staff have been helpful in making the event a success and ensuring that COMOM gets everything they need, Feinberg said.

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COMOM is a first-come, first-served event. Most years it is full with lines the entire time. Patients are assessed and the most important issues are dealt with, since in most cases there isn't time to take care of an entire mouth's worth of issues. There are a limited number of people who can get partial dentures for lost teeth, on a case-by-case basis. A dental lab is set up as part of the event to take care of building the partial dentures.

The help offered can change a community. People who don't have their front teeth may be unable to find work, Feinberg said.

Pereira said that she has encountered patients who pried their teeth out with screwdrivers because they were in pain, but could not afford to visit a dentist.

Feinberg said that last year, at an event in Pueblo, he met a woman in her mid-20s who had full-mouth issues. She was responsible for caring for her father and brother. Both of them had a disability. The woman was unable to work because she was so busy as a caregiver. She spent three or four hours with a dentist, during which she had a root canal and seven or eight fillings.

"She was crying at the end of it," Feinberg said, adding that the story almost brought him to tears as well.

COMOM also offers information about how to prevent dental issues from returning after a patient has seen a dentist. One visit could lead to long-term dental health, or get someone back in the workforce.

Pereira said that she has watched as people stop trying to hide their teeth.